Step 1: Needed Materials and Tools

For this simple project you will need..

Materials:
An empty wine bottle (or any other good looking see-through container)
A keyboard (preferably old and no longer used)
A cork from the bottle (or lid for any other container)
Water (or any other liquid of your choice)

Tools:
- or + screwdriver

Additional (not necessary) tools:
A small towel or a piece of cloth
A small container for the keys
A larger container for the bottle to soak in

It should survive, we do only need the keys for this one, but you should never plug in a wet keyboard (or any other wet device) into your computer or any source of electrical energy not only will you most likely burn the device but you will also have a pretty high chance of getting electrocuted. If you let it dry completely, well, then there's a chance that it may work again, but i wouldn't recommend washing a keyboard in this way if you intend to ever use it again.

most makers say to do the following to clean elctronics. 1st try blowing it out with air (in a can) 2nd try cleaning it with rubbing alcohol and letting it dry for 24 hours before plugging it in 3rd and only as a last resort emerse in water and bleach (dishwasher is one way to do this). then dry for a week in a hot place b4 plugging in.

I am in an IT class in my highschool, and we had to go around and clean all the keyboards and computers, and the keyboards from the really slobbish teachers (the ones who ate and clobbered crumbs all over) we took and stuck in the dish washer. Then, we left them out to dry for a couple of weeks. I suppose you could use a hair drier to speed up the process.

fyi-for metal to rust you need both water AND o2(the oxygen cannot rip apart from the water that easily,I saw experimentors dip a nail in a full to the brim water bottle and not let air in,and it wouldnt rust.

Geeky idea. I think, I would add a LED with a included power source (small battery) and stick that all together into a key or something like that. I hope you understand what I mean. Thanks for the nice idea!

I make it in a beer bottle, i will change the cork to a bottlecap soon to fit it better, temporaly is without water, anyway looks greats. If you use only letters pieces (not F's or insert/del/home keys) and uses a pink/red glass bottles instead green one, willbecome a great Sant Valentin gift, to complement add a ribbon and a card that says "message in a bottle" or "all I can say is inside this bottle" or something similar. Saludos.

Where did you get that old keyboard. The keys on it are disgustingly dirty! Using an old toothbrush (not a family member's current one!) is also a good idea to clean the grime off of those keys. Adding a teaspoon of bleach to the water you are cleaning them with will help disinfect them too. You don't want things growing in the bottle later.

The pic which is washed out with the yellow incandescent lamp??Yes those appear filthy...I'll shut up now, i'm just confused... In every other pic apart from the one with incorrect lighting (washed with yellow light pigments), the keys look like any other keyboards keys. Certainly not disgusting and certainly not worth writting a hole comment about how bad they are...

Mercy! My comment was not meant to sound derogatory. It was meant to "instruct", rather than tear down. Especially the parts about using an old toothbrush and a little bleach to clean the keys. That picture did give me flashbacks to when I used to do home PC service calls though. ~Shudder~ :-)

Since i used up my old keyboard on a similar project not long ago i got this one from a friend and yes, it wasn't quite in mint condition :D Bleach might be a good idea, but you have to wash the keys very thoroughly afterwards in order not to get soap/bleach/cleaner bubbles in the finished product.

If you use boiling water, it will suck the cork in as it cools, but for this to work well you will need to leave more air space. Another way to get the cork in a little easier would be to use two thin pieces of metal, one on each side, to push it in. Then, while holding the cork in place, wiggle them out slowly. My Grandmother used to have a cork extractor that work like that. If you have an old tape measure you don't mind cutting, you could get the metal strips that way. If you try this please post as to your success, I've never actually tried this, but it's basic physics, so I'm sure it will work. Have fun

If you do happen to get your finger stuck inside the bottle, do NOT break the bottle right where it's stuck, I did this and pushed many finger shards into my finger, instead, take some warm water and soap, and with the water, run it over the part where your finger is stuck, and with the soap, apply it around your finger and allow lubrication to do its work.